Here's 10 troubleshooting questions from Thomas

We get a huge range of questions about our A24 Rat & Mouse Traps, and some more often than others. We decided to sit down with one of our customer care experts, Thomas, to share the things he hears from customers most with some tips for how to improve your trapping success.

1 - Will your trap test fire?

If your traps not firing, you’re never going to catch a rat. Some of our trap kits come with a cardboard Pi-rat, especially made for you to test fire your trap. If you didn’t receive a Pi-rat, you can use a stick from the garden to test your trap. 

Carefully use the Pi-rat or stick to activate the trigger inside, keeping fingers well away at all times. Never use your finger! It's incredibly powerful and will cause damage. If your trap isn’t firing, get in touch at support@goodnature.ca or call us on 0800 628 874 and we can help you out. 

2 - Did you use detector cards?

A critical, but often missed step is using the detector cards which came with your trap. Rats often won't feed where you spotted them, as they could be exposed and vulnerable to predators like your cat! By placing a variety of rodent detector cards around the site, you’ll know exactly where they’re comfortable eating. 

If you didn’t use cards, they’re available here, and still worth using even after you’ve had a trap set up for awhile. 

3 - When did you last change your lure and CO2?

We’ve designed a slow-release lure, which constantly extrudes from the lure bag and eventually runs out after six months (no intervention needed!). If you haven’t changed your ALP (Automatic Lure Pump) in the last six months, this will be inhibiting the attractiveness of the trap. ALPs are available here. 

Our CO2 canisters have pressure for 24 humane kills if installed correctly. Just like keeping your oil topped up in your car, keeping CO2 and Lure up to date is critical for the continued success of your trap. If your CO2 has sat inactive for over six months it’s time to replace. You can find canisters here. 

4 - Where is your trap located?

Often it’s not until we see a photo of the trap that we can tell it’s in the wrong spot for catching pests. Positions too high, or low, near a competing food source (like you compost) or areas that are too exposed, will inhibit the success of your trap. 

For the best locations, check out this blog and follow the instructions provided. 

5 - Does your trap have a counter?

If you’re traps not counting, you won’t know if it’s catching! Because scavenging is so common, it’s normal not to see any bodies under your trap. We’ve got a quick video about scavenging here.

If your trap has a counter, but it's not registering any kills it may be attached incorrectly. Check out this video for how to correctly install a counter. 

6 - Is your trap set up correctly?

It’s important you follow our installation instructions when setting up your trap. Check out this video to make sure your setup is looking the same. If it’s not, get in touch and we can help out. 

7 - Is the CO2 screwed in correctly?

When the CO2 canister is screwed in, you hear a short hiss as the gas is released. Screw the gas canister in until it is hand tight. Making sure it’s well screwed in should mitigate your chances of experiencing small leaks. 

8 - Are there other food sources?

Rats are incredibly smart, and will always look for the safest and easiest food source. This means your trap needs to be the most appealing food available to lure them in. Competing food sources are sometimes difficult to remove, but a little clean up will mean your trap performs much better. 

9 - Is your ALP activated?

Every now and then we hear of customers who don’t know the 10-cent piece is a gift for them! This must be removed in order for the circuit to complete, and the ALP to work. You can thank us later. 

10 - Have you been prefeeding?

As mentioned above, rats will need to be tempted into the trap for success. Prefeeding will encourage the rats to seek out the lure more and eventually lead them to seek out the trap (because the lures inside). To begin with, you can dab some of the lure around the trap so rats get a taste for it. 

If you’ve completed these steps, and still aren’t seeing any results please don’t worry. We love helping customers to achieve trapping success, so we’re more than willing to help you out. You can email us at support@goodnature.ca or call us at 1-877-992-8868.

Happy trapping! 

Thomas.